Lab Members

Eyal Gottlieb, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Professor, Cancer Biology
Email: EGottlieb@MDAnderson.org
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Dr. Gottlieb earned his Ph.D. in cancer biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1998 and did his postdoctoral training with Dr. Craig Thompson at University of Pennsylvania. Since 2003, he has been an independent research group leader, initially at Cancer Research UK (Beatson Institute) and later at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology). He was recruited as Vice President for Research and a professor in the department of Cancer Biology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2023.

Dr. Gottlieb uses interdisciplinary research methods combining molecular and cellular biology, mouse genetic models and analytical chemistry (metabolomics) to explore new potential clinical approaches in cancer and other metabolic disorders. His lab’s key discoveries were the identification of onco-metabolic signaling cascade following the genetic inactivation of the tumor suppressors and TCA cycle enzymes succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and fumarate hydratase (FH). His research team further discovered metabolic processes which are uniquely essential for the survival of cancer cells that are deficient in FH or SDH. Such metabolic vulnerabilities enable new therapeutic approaches for these tumors. Dr. Gottlieb identified acetate as an essential nutritional source for cancer cells under metabolic stress, and ACSS2, the enzyme that captures acetate in the cytosol and the nucleus, as a validated molecular target for cancer therapy. More recently, his lab employed metabolomics to discover a unique metabolic circulating biomarker that has an excellent diagnostic power to classify FH-deficient renal cell cancer.

Dr. Gottlieb is currently a faculty member in MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in both the Cancer Biology and Molecular and Translational Biology programs, and he is currently accepting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Read more about Dr. Gottlieb's research on Google Scholar.

Qinggang Wang, Ph.D.
Laboratory Manager

Qinggang graduated from Capital University of Medical Sciences and trained and practiced as a gastroenterologist in China. She obtained a Ph.D. in Biomedical  Sciences from Capital University of Medical Sciences. Prior to joining the Gottlieb Laboratory in 2023, Qinggang worked at the University of North Dakota as a  research associate and a research assistant professor, where she investigated small molecule FAK activators to promote gastrointestinal epithelial sheet migration, and  the role of the Schlafen 12 protein regulates intestinal epithelial differentiation.

As the laboratory manager, Qinggang oversees general laboratory management, ensures compliance with safety protocols, develops laboratory policies and procedures, handles equipment and reagent purchasing, tracks laboratory inventories, trains and supervises laboratory personnel, initiates IACUC, IBC and IRB submissions, assists grant application, coordinates, and engages with diverse teams both within and outside the institution, actively participates in research projects. Qinggang loves working with her team towards a shared vision and motivating her team to work together to achieve collective goals.

Yogita Sharma, M.S., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Yogita completed her graduate studies in Biochemistry and Glycobiology at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH) in Chandigarh, India, in 2021. During this time, she discovered and characterized a novel, functionally significant glycosyltransferase in prokaryotes with potential applications in engineering antimicrobial glycopeptides. Following her graduate work, she pursued her initial postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where she investigated the impact of glycosylation on human kidney ion channels and its implications for kidney diseases. In April 2024, she joined the Gottlieb Lab, focusing her research on employing metabolomics approaches to investigate cancers deficient in Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) or Fumarate hydratase (FH).

Olga Khomich, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Olga received her master’s degree in organic chemistry from University of Chemical Technology in Russia and Ph.D. in molecular biology from Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in France. Her Ph.D. project was focused on identifying metabolic footprints of hepatitis delta virus in hepatocytes. In our laboratory Olga will continue to investigate the role of metabolism in liver disease.

Alia Ghrayeb, MD, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Alia completed her medical degree at the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine before pursuing a PhD at Professor Gottlieb’s lab, where she studied alterations in glycine and one-carbon metabolism in metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Her current research focuses on the role of the acetyl-CoA synthase enzyme (ACSS2) in colorectal cancer. Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, Alia is investigating whether targeting ACSS2 enhances tumor vulnerability to DNA-damaging agents, with the goal of refining therapeutic strategies for colorectal cancer.